FORIWULA FORUIVI MARGH/APRIL 2OO3 THE IF1 JOURNAL. lit+

Transcription

1 FORIWULA FORUIVI THE IF1 JOURNAL %. *u lit+ MARGH/APRIL 2OO3

2 FORMULA FORUM IF lf{ lnc_ DISCLAIMER CO!{TRIBUTIONS MEMBERSHIP Formula Forum O 2003 International Formula One Pylon Air Racing, Inc. All rights reserved. Formula Forum is the official publication of International Formula One Pylon Air Racing, [nc., A Texas Non- Profit Corporation. Member of the Air Racing Council of the United States. Website: iflairracing.com Articles appearing herein are the opinion ofthe authors and not necessarily the opinion of IF1,Inc.. Contributions should be sent to the Editor, Bill Rogers at 926 Rawhide Place, Newbury Park, CA Phone/FAX: 8 05 I , text to milward@ adelphia.net Text on CD or PC floppies in WP,Word or.rtf. Photos/jpgs remain property of Formula Forum. Membership in IFI is open to pilots, owners, crews, and technical people active in Formula One Air Racing. Members $50, Non-voting Associate Members S25. Applications are available from the Secretary or on line. EXECUTTVE COMMITTEE DAVID HOOYER President 107 V/illiams Lane Foster City, CA / cofrenzy@aol.com SCOTT CRANDLEMIRE Vice President 3810 W. Park Creek Dr. Meridian, ld / ainacel2@msn.com GARYDALLESKE Secretary 3212 Western Drive Cameron Park, CA s3a/ gwdflyer@aol.com DIRECTORS RAYDEBS Promotions Director 715 Jeffrey Ave Campbell, CA raydebs@aol.com VOLUME XIV NUMBER 2 JEF'F GUI\N Operations Director 866 Santa Cruz St. Corona, CA / Jeftey.Gunn@sce.com TOM DeHART Technical Director P.O.Box Klamath Falls, OR t/ CHARLIE GREER Pilot Committee 5274 Soledad Mountain Rd SanDiego, CA s SlloPke@aol.com GARY HUBLER Technical Committee 5011 Hubler Lane Caldwell,ID /454-9sBs ghubler@starband.net DAN GILBERT Procedure Committee Jewell Street, Bellville, MI 481I I 734/ DGILBRT@aoI.com RULES For IF I Technical rules, send a check for $5.00 to the Secretary, payable to IFl, to cover cost of printing and mailing, or check on line. GOVER PHOTO,Another great gaggle shot with Ed Dutreaux on the inside this time, with Ray Sherwood and Holbrook Maslen passing. Al Wimer photo CONTENTS 3. President's Page David Hoover 4. Jim Miller Bill Rogers 5. World of Wings Bill Rogers 6. Miller Montage 8. Letters Ed Bowes 10. Odds and _ 11. For Sale FORMUI-A FORUM, MARCH 2OO3

3 President's Page David Hoover Scoffy Crandlemire I asked Bill Rogers to hold off on mailing the Forum until after the Class Presidents meeting with RARA. I just returned home last night from a very positive meeting in Reno. I was joined by VP Scotty Crandlemire, who was attending his first meeting. RARA provided us with a State of RARA address in which we were given details of the2002 event and what we can expect in In2002 there were 223,000 race fans that attended the event over the four days. This number shattered the previous attendance number by 37,000 people. The economic impact to the Reno economy is in excess of 50 million dollars. For 2003 the total purse money has finally reached 1 million dollars. The Formula One purse has been set at $75,000.00, plus an additional $1000,00 donated by Bob Cannon to the fastest qualifier. This represents the largest Formula One purse ever. The Jet Class will be back this year, as will the USAF Thunderbirds. Because of the lack of time in the schedule it looks like we will only have eight instead of nine Formula One races this year. This is not set in stone yet and if the schedule will permit, we might get back that race. Let's hope so! The preliminary schedule shows that we will have two races per day for four days. I should get the final daily race schedule from the Air Boss in August and that will be published in the late August Forum. The dates are out for the Pylon Racing Seminar. The Seminar will take place from June 19ft to the22"d. The format and cost will remain the same as before and the deadline to register is Friday, May 16th. If you decide to enter after that date, a late fee of $ will be charged. No registration will be accepted after amay 30s postmark. Entry forms will be sent out fairly soon, so please contact me so that I can forward your name to RARA, and they will send you the paperwork. If current race pilots want to bring their planes up that weekend for testing and racecourse practice, I would certainly encourage it. Looking at some preliminary numbers, we should have more thanz{ entries this year. We currently have two or three rookies lined up plus two or three other new planes that are expected to show up as well. The slow Bronze guys should take notice because qualifying will be very important ifthe field is over full. In other news, Scotty has been negotiating for a while to have us participate in the World of Wings (WoW) operation at Nellis AFB near Las Vegas, NV. Last year, as part of the huge military airshow there, several Unlimiteds put on a demo race under the WoW banner. The principal, Bob Avery, is anxious to expand his involvement with an additional race class and has chosen us. A formal press release is in work and will be available shortly; in the meantime please keep this information for your use and do not disseminate it to the press. The show is after Reno (November 15-16) so it will possibly be convenient to leave aircraft there after the races and then tow down to Vegas. We will provide more details in the next issue. Bill Rogers has also researched WoW public statements which give insight into the exciting potential offered by Bob Avery and his organization, and these are covered in following pages. Fly Fast, David FORMUL,A FORUM, MARCH 2OO3

4 Jim Miller Bill Rogers Formula One has lost one of the pioneers of our sport. Jim Miller passed away February I l, 2003, after a lengthy illness. Jim was 80 and is survived by his wife Cecilia, his two daughters and a son. Jim last appeared in Formula One with his familiar pusher "Pushy Cat"at Reno in 1999 but had the misfortune of having the nosewheel collapse during landing after a practice flight and he was not able to compete. This unfortunate incident belies a very successful span of 51 years of Formula One racing. He first raced in 7949 in an aircraft of his own design and construction - "Little Gem". This aircraft carried him to two National Championships and 17 top three finishes. Not content with this performance, Jim sold "Little Gem" and designed and developed his unique pusher configuration plane, the JM-2 "Texas Gem". This unique aircraft frst flew in 1974witha shrouded propeller but was steadily modified through several configuration refinements to the JM-3 'opushy Cat''. In his racing caf,eer Jim recorded 3 championships and 5 1 wins in 1 81 races, an amaztng record. Jim was born and reared in Vincennes, IN, and took up flying as a teenager; he served in WWII in the Army Air Force, flying transports in the Fm East. After the war, Jim pursued a multitude of aviation endeavors including instructing, corporate flying, cropdusting, operating an airport, FBO, sales and demonstrations, and designing and building performance enhancing modifications. Miller Air Sports of Marble Falls and San Antonio, TX, joined the homebuilt movement with the revolutionary pusher series and the five aircraftversions flown made their mark, not only on Formula One racing, but the entire o o. o This series of aircraft took Jim to another Championship in 1990 and the design was flown with success by several other pilots. Jim still holds World Records for speeds over 100 and 500 km closed courses for the C-lA weight class. Bruce Bohannon built another JM-3 which he raced successfully and then used to break all time-to-climb records to 9,000m. All these records stand today, and show the brilliance of Jim's designs. Many people have made successful designs, but few have made a unique configuration win. amateur-built aviation scene. Jim was a talented engineer and a fine craftsman. His aircraft were beautifully made and always looked immaculate. He was an intense competitor and was always modifying his pushers for more performance; in 1996 he qualified "Pushy Cat" at m/h. Jim also gave much of his time to the IFI organization, serving as our President in l99l-2. A true gentleman and friend, Jim will be missed by us all. FORMUL,A FORUM, MARCH 2OO3

5 World of Wings Bill Rogers Those ofus who have been aroundfor a while lmow that promoters come and go, sometimes with our money. I researched World of Wings and this is what Ifound. Bob Avery is President & CEO of World of Wings and most of this was over his nome. He looks lil<e someone who is doing it right - pick a successful show, obtain the sponsors and then put on the races. Editor On October 5-6,2002, World of Wings, Inc. (WoW) produced "Las Vegas Unlimited Air Racing" at the Aviation Nation 2002 Ai Show for an estimated crowd of 500,000 over 2 days at Nellis Air Force Base, located on the northem edge of Las Vegas. The entire air show, and especially the air races, was an overwhelming success. "Las Vegas Air Racing" was a demonstration of the worlds fastest motorsport, and several of the sports fastest and highest-profile air racers participated including Dago Red, Rare Bear, Voodoo, Riff Raff and, as an added attraction, the Hughes H-l Racer. The air racing pit was set up at show center on the flight line and the air racing course was a five mile oval with the inside straightaway being located down the centerline of runway 2l-03. Racers flew a left hand course that placed them up close and in full view of the crowd at all times. Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE: BYD), one of the largest casino gaming companies in the world and owner of gaming properties across the U.S., stepped up as the title sponsor for Las Vegas Air Racing with a five-year agreement. Boyd Gaming officers were very pleased with what they saw and are serious about assisting World of Wings in making Las Vegas Air Racing a permanent fixture for the city. World of Wings is operating as the promotional agent for Aviation Nation under a three year deal. Aviation Nation 2003 plans call for bringing the unlimited air racers back and expanding the demonstration to another class. It is planned that the Aviation Nation Nellis AFB venue will be the temporary home for Las Vegas Air Racing until the new location is ready to support the full-up event. WoW is already planning Aviation Nation 2003, the 50th anniversary of the Thunderbirds and the return of Las Vegas Air Racing. Every 2002 sponsor has already pledged to be back with a bigger package, and other companies, including several Las Vegas casinos, are contacting them about 2003 opportunities. The annual Aviation Nation airshow is the largest event the city of Las Vegas will host in the foreseeable future. On February 12,2003, the Las Vegas Events (LVE) Board of Trustees voted to make Aviation Nation an officially endorsed and sponsored Las Vegas event. The sponsorship provides a substantial marketing, media and advertising budget for Aviation Nation and the event will now be promoted through marketing programs of Las Vegas Events and Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Las Vegas Events joins corporate sponsors, Boyd Gaming Corporation, title sponsor of Las Vegas Unlimited Air Racing, and JT3, an engineering and technical support provider for Department of Defense test and training ranges. World of Wings negotiated the deal and will manage the marketing and media budget provided by the LVE sponsorship.in2002, WoW was Cont. on Page 9 FORMAL,A FORUM, MARCH 2OO3

6 Mifller Montage # ffi# yr*sfri! -au'""u-*'it fa 'E {o{u r r il&"tr{i$}rf,/' a o EO Jim, Bruce Bohannon and the pushers, Reno 4) (q llrnt 6 "t"w - Will Dennis and Art Williams - Reno FORMULA FORUM, MARCH 2OO3

7 ffi z 0) z Gold race Reno '98 z " "lffi lffi ffi m-"...u'r'"'i*;'# 00 Jim and Bruce after his last race, Reno Gold 1998 FOKMULA FORUM, MARCH 2OO3

8 Letters Ed Bowes Hello, Bill! I have finally gotten unsnarled enough to pins on some thoughts from Reno First, on behalf of the Miss Lynn crew, Jim Debus, Steve Mountain, Harry Barr, my wife Lynn and myself, I would like to express our happiness (and pleasant surprise!) on how the entire Formula One hangar treated us. We did not encounter even one individual who was less than totally helpful. Furthermore, we felt included in all aspects from day one and never encountered any unfriendly or unapproachable attitude at all from anyone. What we feared would be a pretty closed group turned out to be the most welcoming bunch we could imagine! We also enjoyed all of the absolute characters we met. And now without our "rookie stripe", we promise to pass that attitude along to any new Formula One crews to follow. The pylon seminar conducted by our own fearless crazies David Hoover and Scottie Crandlemire was excellent. I cannot even imagine attempting to compete at Reno without this type of a program. The information presented was totally on the mark and useful absolutely. I hope I have expressed enough thanks to David and Scottie for allowing me to fly their airplanes as part of the schooling. I really should contribute to some sort of fund to reimburse them for the medication they must have needed to soothe the intestinal discomfort they undoubtedly experenced as they watched me try to grope around the racecourse. I'm sure it wasn't pretty but I am grateful for their coaching. Santa Claus (a.k.a. Dan Gilbert) came early this year! After our airplane passed the tech inspection, he made sure the program was in place for me to complete my rookie test. I was kinda worried about getting this accomplished, but he made all the arrangements and my test went off without a hitch, I guess. (He didn't yell at me anyway!!!!) Thank you very much, Dan! I suppose I now have the questionable honor of being the world's oldest rookie! When we unpacked the racer in Reno and found our warhead was not quite legal, we had countless excellent suggestions and the tech guys were always there when we needed them to re-check our (too small) combustion chamber. In my sprint car racing experience, other crews are not always this willing to help a rookie competitor and we really appreciate Gary Hubler and his crew supplying the needed shims to make us legal so we could compete. Seems there was always a tool, apart or a propeller available that we could beg or borrow to give a ty. (I guess they were helping us...) The rest of the week went very well. We enjoyed all the kind words we heard about our airplane. Jim Debus and Steve Mountain worked long and hard to create "Miss Lynn" over the last two-plus years and we really had no idea what to expect in terms of performance, but these guys created their dream machine. We knew she was slick, we hoped she would run cool and smooth, we thought she would be fast but we had not a clue that we would be able to qualify seventh in the dogpile at 221 mph! She's a beaut and I am honored to have the privilege of flying her. Bill, as we talked several times throughout the weeks at the races, you asked us to give our view of the overall impression of the Formula One program and how it worked for us, but as rookies, we don't feel that we are yet qualified to FORMUI.,A FORUM, MARCH 2OO3

9 I go there. We just know that it appears to be a great progrirm, it is run exceptionally well from aprofessional standpoint, it worked well for us and are looking forward to having a role in its continuing success. You keep doing what you do and we'll find a way to do our part! As rookies in2002, we would have a difficult time saying anything negative about our Reno experience. We me back in Lincoln, Nebraska, with the airplane all apart, trying to make it much faster by utilizing all the things you great people were kind enough to pass along to us. We truthfully cannot believe that we were actually all standing on the mnway at the Reno Air Races looking back at the grandstands from the opposite side of the fence. Talk about living the dream! Our goal was to leave Reno in one piece and to have not been a bother to anyone. We hope we succeeded. Thankyou all again- can't wait to see you in September. THANKS to our SPONSORS Paul Royko Shell Development See ya, Ed Peter Bacon & Jim Melvin Unison lndustries -l Ed has been active in otherforms of racing so I asked him to give us his impressions, as a rookie, as to how his Reno experience rated - what we did right, what we did wrong, how we compared and how we can improve the learning experience. His teom is obviously happy with how things went and although he gives us no suggestions for improvement, everyone in the IFI family that interfocedwith the team (not just the Tech and Ops Crews) should feel satisfaction that we ore on the right track. Well Done everyone! Editor World of Wings - Cont. from P5 appointed promotional agent for Aviation Nation by the Nevada International Air Show Association (NIASA), a non-profit organization that seeks the advancement of public awareness of airpower via annual air shows atnellis AFB. NIASA is officially recognized by Nellis AFB to assist in funding for the air show. The World of Wings team believes that Las Vegas is the most logical place in the world to expand the sport. The city's infrastructure, the wide-open space, favorable weather and a business community always on the lookout for the next big event make a powerful argument for a new air racing venue in this city. Avery announced at Nellis that the ultimate goal of WoW is to produce a 10 day aviation exposition in Mesquite, NV with a trade show sandwiched between two weekends of Unlimited ai rasing. Mesquite is on I15 on the Arizonaborder north of Las Vegas - a smaller version of Laughlin on the Virgin River. We wish Bob Avery continued success and hope IFl continues to be part of his plans. FONUUUT FORUM, MARCH 2OO3

10 Otlllds and We received just two entries to last issue's contest for a caption for the photo of Robert Jones adjusting on 'oaggressor"' aft fuselage: oohang in there Snoopy" from Ken via "Knights of the Air. Air race ace Robert Jones salutes his fellow contestants prior to a duel in the skies over Reno" from an anonymous contributor. Actual caption from Robert Jones: "Trying to fix my Halrress" Robert regretfully has to sell his airplane; if you can help him, check out his ad on the "For Sale" page. My apologies to Scotty Crandlemire and Charlie Greer. I had finger trouble and printed their / phone numbers incorrectly on the masthead (page 2) last month. For the record Scotty can be found at airracel2@msn.com and Charlie at SlloPke@aol.com,while his phone is David Hoover has completed his new plane and is awaiting good weather prior to flying it. Dan Gilbert is completing the vertical on his, which is the last structural component needed for final assembly. He has a Robbie Grove landing gear and only needs a prop extension to have the other major components ready; he is determined to make Reno. Gary Dalleske, on behalf of IF1, sent flowers to the Millers. We received a nice "thank you' card from Cecelia, Cheryl, Lind4 and Tom. We told you last issue that the Forum is now fully digitized, which allows us to receive photographs at short notice, crop (and uncrop) and resize as required to fit : tr,il' available space. It also allows us to edit pictures via PhotoShop. We are not going to create "photographs" but we have used the capability to clean up backgrounds, like eliminating an unwanted pair of feet from the background ofthe photo on the back cover last issue. The same was done to the bottom photo on Page 7. In some quarters this is controversial and I was wondering how our readers and photogs felt about this. I could indicate manipulation by adding "PS" to the photo credit. An Unlimited rumor has it that Dan Borgstrom has purchased Lloyd Hamilton's Sea Fury "Baby Gorilla" and intends to race it at Reno this year. We have had UL guys who came and raced IF1 and we have had Fl guys who raced other people's Uls, but this is the first I recall to own one! We hope Dan will continue to campaign "Half Fast" and keep us truly Intemational. Please look at your address label; if it has your nirme highlighted, it means that this is your last Forum unless we receive your membership dues prior to April 15tr. l0 FORMAIA FORUM, MARCH 2OO3

11 For Sale Ads are free as a service to members. #2 NSEW Wagner "Okie Swinger" Beautiful Gold Racer Contact: George Budde: a (405) patbudde@earthlink.net t/01 AIRCRAFT #4 N1VD Owl OR71 "Alley Cat" pria,r to Reno Champion with 2race engines, 3 graphite props, and customized2 axle trailer purchase of any Contact: Ray Cote: B (619) l0/01 aircrafi, please F 1 raygladyscote@aol.com cont'act the kc]trnical #11 N746JC Cassutt li - 2nd prototype Direrctorfor an! Builtby Tom - one owner since raced '::^^:::^^^ at Ft Wayne at 194 m/tr; prepared to race in :::':Y::-"^, '85 and caretully stored fri. 13'8" 60/o stab ttems tnal mqy aoolv. ' wing, very low time C-85, plans, 3 props. Deserves good home, make reasonable offer. Contact: Jan Christie; a(608) #38 N38MW Cassutt'038 Special" Stock slab-wing Cassutt; clean, recent update Contact: Gary Dalleske a(530) gwdflyer@aol.com 3103 #42 N42KK Ketly F-lD "Barbara Jean" w/o engine, with prop, spinner, mount, cooler. Includes flatbed trailer, spares and support equipment. In very good shape. Contact: Kevin Kelly c (661) kk1516@msn.com 5l0l #54 N54ML Cassutt IIIM "Midnight Lightning'r 2002 RENO SILVER RACE WINNER. Has a double tapered composite Race Wing, LyCon Race Engine, Owens Composite Race Prop, and double axle custom trailer. 190TT, 23 SMOH by LyCon. s29,000 0Bo. Contact Gary Davis (940) dtexasflyer@cs.com MUST SELL -HAVE TO QUIT RACING #57 N603R Cassutt 111M saggressor'o Gold racer, beautiful Grove wing, new motor, great trailer, extra canopy, props etc. $39,000 0Bo y03 Contact: Robert Jones: a 659) RBJ5l@aol.com Cassutt Parts National Aeronautics has Cassutt parts including Al and Steel landing gear legs. Contact: Ib or Sue Hansen: a (303) cassutts@aol.com Teledyne Continental Parts at Racer prices Mattituck Aviation. Mention IFI Contact: Phil Haponic: a (l 800) info@airplane.com Graphite Race Props - Run One or Follow One. by Twisted Composites Contact: Steve Hill: a (505) P.O.Box 399 Moriarty, NM Carbonprop@earthlink.net Aircraft Design and Analysis Services: Everl,thing from computeized airfoil design to complete aircraft drawings and CFD analysis using NASA's Pmarc-l2 Contact: Gary James: a (817) GSJAME S@ix.netcom.com Custom Embroidery: Team shirts, hats, jackets, etc. at racer rates for 12 pcs & up. Contact: All Star Warbirds, Sharon Sandberg: a (763) SSandberg@aol.com Raceplane Books by R.S.Hirsch Wedell-Williams Air Service by Bob Hirsch and Barbara Schultz, $19.95 plus S2.00 S&H from: Raceplanes by Hirsch 8439 Dale St. Buena Park, Ca aqa) One of the VP's many duties is to keep the "For Sale" section of this Forum current. Will those of you with aircrafr and other various items for sale please contact me via at: airracel2@msn.com or cell # and up-date me with any changes. Thankyou, ScottyCrandlemire FORMADI FORUM, MARCH 2OO3 T1

12 lf1 historian and ace photographer Al Wimer explains it to lb Hansen John Garrett photo PYLON AIR RACING. THE WORLD'S FASTEST ENGINESPORT FORMULA FORUM 926 Rawhide Place, Newbury Park, CA 91320